DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A FOUR-ROW HAND PUSHED SEED PLANTER

摘要

A four row planter hand pushed was developed and tested. The performance test was conducted to investigate the rate of seed discharge, uniformity of intra-row spacing, seed damage during operation, field efficiency, field capacity, planting depth and average intra-row spacing distance. An average weight of 4.32 g of seeds was discharged during the test which occurred at an average planting distance of 45 cm. The planter effectively metred out three seeds per hole at an average planting depth of 2.61 cm with minimum seed damage of 1.98% during operation. The planter could be maneuvered or adjusted to metre more seeds at more or less planting depths depending on the choice of the farmer. The field efficiency of 88.55% and average effective and theoretical field capacities of 0.85 ha/h and 0.96 were obtained from field test. The planter can be produced at a cost of ?57,600.00k.With proper maintenance, the planter would overcome the difficulties encountered by the rural farmers in sowing seeds.